Perimenopause is having a cultural moment, and endocrinologist Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia is glad it is, but in this launch episode of Clearly Hormonal, she pushes back on social media's habit of attributing nearly any midlife symptom to hormones. She defines perimenopause as the years leading up to menopause (recognized after 12 months without a period, average age ~51) and explains that it's marked by hormonal variability, not simply “low estrogen,” with menstrual-cycle changes serving as an important clinical clue.

She walks through why most women don't need single-point hormone testing, since levels fluctuate day to day, per current ACOG guidance. Using a composite patient example (“Jen”), she shows how fatigue, sleep issues, hair loss, and weight gain may reflect iron deficiency, thyroid disease, sleep apnea, nutrition, stress, medications, or life changes, not hormones by default.

She closes with a four-question framework for sorting it out: where you are in the reproductive transition, whether a symptom is plausibly related to it, what else could explain it, and whether treating perimenopause would actually help. Taking symptoms seriously, she argues, requires evidence and continued curiosity, not a single convenient explanation.

Endocrinologist Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia defines peptides as short amino-acid chains (with examples like insulin) and notes that any package or claim stating “contains peptides” is meaningless without knowing which peptide, how it was tested, and what it's proven to do.

She outlines the FDA approval pathway from preclinical work through Phase 1–3 trials and FDA review, then lists the FDA-approved peptides she prescribes for metabolic health (insulin analogs, GLP-1/GIP agents, glucagon, pramlintide), osteoporosis and calcium disorders (teriparatide, abaloparatide, palopegteriparatide, calcitonin), and reproductive/pituitary conditions (GnRH agonists, somatostatin analogs, vasopressin/desmopressin, cosyntropin, setmelanotide, bremelanotide).

She contrasts these with trending “gray market” peptides (e.g., BPC-157, TB-500, GHK-Cu), noting most lack published peer-reviewed randomized human trials and are often sold as “research chemicals” without purity oversight. Her key filter: ask what high-quality human evidence supports a claim — emphasizing informed choices, doctor-guided decisions, and evidence over hype.

Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia explains that headlines claiming “FDA approves peptides” are misleading: an FDA advisory committee narrowly voted to recommend adding six peptides (BPC-157, TB-500, KPV, MOTS-c, Epitalon, Semax) to a compounding list, a step that is not FDA approval and still faces a formal FDA process. She notes FDA scientists opposed adding all six and that some voting members sell these peptides.

Reviewing the evidence, she explains that BPC-157 has only three small, weak human studies; TB-500 has zero human trials for the injury uses it's marketed for (while full thymosin beta-4 has some real human data); KPV has no human studies at all; MOTS-c has an unpublished Phase 1b trial and only observational, exercise-related human data; Epitalon lacks Western peer-reviewed human trials; and Semax is approved in Russia but with limited-quality stroke data.

She emphasizes that all six are synthetic despite being marketed as "natural," that marketing to midlife women is running well ahead of the evidence, that contamination and mislabeled dosing have been documented in online peptide products, that compounded drugs bypass typical FDA review, and that proven options already exist for symptoms like hot flashes, bone loss, and metabolic changes.

Type 1 diabetes isn't just a childhood disease, and it isn't caused by sugar, weight, or lifestyle. In this episode, Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia breaks down why type 1 diabetes is so often missed in adults, especially in people mislabeled as type 2, and introduces LADA (latent autoimmune diabetes in adults), a slow-moving form of type 1 that may account for up to a quarter of adult diagnoses. She walks through the clues that should prompt testing, the two blood tests that can change a diagnosis, and how perimenopause and menopause complicate blood sugar control for women living with type 1. The episode also covers pregnancy planning, the real (and often overstated) genetic risk to children, the underappreciated heart disease risk in women with type 1, and why needing insulin is never a sign of failure.

If you've ever been told — or told yourself — that your type 2 diabetes is something you caused and something you could fix if you just tried a little harder, this episode is for you.

Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia spends 17 years of clinical experience (and personal family history) dismantling one of the most damaging narratives in medicine: that type 2 diabetes is a lifestyle disease you can will your way out of. In reality, it's a complex, progressive metabolic condition shaped by genetics, hormones, sleep, stress, and — for women specifically — perimenopause and menopause.

This episode covers the real biology behind insulin resistance and beta-cell decline, why stigma is measurably making patient outcomes worse, why so many people misunderstand what insulin actually does, and why "remission" — not "reversal" — is the accurate, honest term for what's possible.

Getting diagnosed with Hashimoto's can feel overwhelming—especially after spending five minutes online.

Suddenly you're told to eliminate gluten, avoid broccoli, stop eating soy, buy expensive supplements, and ask your doctor for desiccated thyroid.

But how much of that advice is actually supported by evidence?

In Part 2 of the Thyroid Myth Busting series, endocrinologist Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia separates fact from fiction using current medical research.

You'll learn:

• Why cruciferous vegetables are not harming your thyroid

• When soy actually matters (hint: it's about medication timing)

• Who should—and shouldn't—consider a gluten-free diet

• Why iodine supplements can actually worsen thyroid disease

• Which thyroid supplements have evidence (and which don't)

• The truth about desiccated thyroid versus levothyroxine

If you've ever felt overwhelmed by thyroid advice on social media, this episode is your evidence-based guide.

One in four women will have some degree of thyroid dysfunction after menopause — so it's not unreasonable to test it. But Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia says the real problem isn't whether we test, it's what we do (or don't do) after the results come back "normal." In this episode, she breaks down the most common thyroid myths she hears in clinic: that fatigue and weight gain automatically mean thyroid disease, that everyone needs a full thyroid panel, and that a slightly elevated TSH always means you need medication. She walks through what TSH actually measures, when free T4 and T3 testing adds value, why antibody testing isn't a default screen, and the real risks of over-treating with levothyroxine. Then she dives into the part almost no one explains: how perimenopause and menopause change the way we interpret thyroid labs, why your TSH reference range shifts with age, and how starting estrogen therapy can change your thyroid medication needs.

Picture three women. One is spitting into four little tubes throughout the day, mailing them off to a lab, hoping to finally get answers about her "adrenal fatigue." Another has been on a steroid inhaler for years, or just got a cortisone shot in her knee, and has never once had her adrenal glands checked — even though statistically, she has roughly a coin-flip's odds of an abnormal result if anyone bothered to look. And a third, in her late forties, is being told her exhaustion and brain fog are adrenal fatigue, when what she actually needs is a conversation about perimenopause.

Same hormone. Same small gland sitting on top of each kidney. Three completely different ways we get this wrong — and in this episode, Dr. Patil-Sisodia untangles all three.

She starts with the myth: why multi-sample "adrenal fatigue" saliva and urine kits run on real, legitimate lab technology in service of a diagnosis that doesn't medically exist — and why that combination is exactly what makes them so convincing. Then comes the plot twist she didn't expect to be making: that same multi-sample saliva format is actually a gold-standard tool, just for something else entirely — screening for Cushing's syndrome, when cortisol runs too high instead of too low. From there, she walks through the tests that genuinely work for Cushing's, the pseudo-Cushing's patterns (depression, alcohol use, obesity, PCOS/PMOS, illness, and more) that can mimic it on paper, and the condition she says gets missed more than any other: steroid-related adrenal insufficiency, which affects about half of long-term steroid users — inhalers, creams, sprays, and injections included — while fewer than 1% are ever tested for it.

The episode closes on something close to home for this show's listeners: how easily perimenopause gets relabeled as adrenal fatigue, what that mislabeling actually costs women, and three simple questions you can run any cortisol test through before you trust it.

“My adrenals are shot.” If you’ve said some version of that sentence this year, Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia believes that you feel terrible—she just wants you to know that adrenal fatigue isn’t a real diagnosis, a lab value, or something your adrenal glands can actually do. In this myth-busting episode, she takes on six widely held beliefs about the adrenal glands: from the supplement industry built around a condition with no validated test, to when an adrenal tumor actually needs surgery, to who really needs Cushing syndrome screening, to how peri-operative steroid dosing has changed. She closes with the myth she considers most dangerous—that real adrenal insufficiency is easy to spot—and explains why it’s so often missed for years, sometimes until a life-threatening adrenal crisis forces the diagnosis.

Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia records live from her hotel room on the final night of the ADA 86th Annual Scientific Sessions in New Orleans — still processing what she witnessed earlier that week. The NIH director didn't show up to his own keynote. A substitute speaker framed diabetes research under the MAHA agenda. And five physicians were escorted out of the conference by security for handing out a peer-reviewed article published in the ADA's own journal.

This episode is her unfiltered account of what happened, what the science actually says, and why none of us — patients, clinicians, or researchers — can afford to let it quietly recede.

In this episode:

• What the Kahn et al. Diabetes Care editorial actually argues

• Why an 89% drop in NIH funding notices is more alarming than it sounds

• How a new policy is draining the research pipeline without a single congressional vote

• The landmark diabetes trials — DPP, DCCT, TrialNet — that exist because of the infrastructure now being gutted

• A frank assessment of the ADA's official statement

• Why diverse, long-horizon NIH research is existential for underserved populations

• Concrete actions for patients, clinicians, researchers, and ADA members

On May 12, 2026, The Lancet published the results of a 14-year global effort: Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) has been officially renamed Polyendocrine Metabolic Ovarian Syndrome (PMOS). For over 170 million women worldwide — most of whom have never received a correct diagnosis — this is not just a nomenclature update. It is a reckoning.

In this episode, Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia breaks down what changed, what didn’t, and why the new name carries profound clinical implications across every hormonal era: adolescence, the reproductive years, perimenopause, and menopause and beyond. She connects the renaming to the 2026 ACC/AHA dyslipidemia guidelines, the 70% undiagnosis rate, and the lifelong metabolic consequences that the old name made invisible.

If you’ve ever been handed a birth control pill without a workup, told your symptoms were stress, or felt dismissed in a clinical setting — this episode is for you.

The number-one cause of death in women is still heart disease — and perimenopause is where your cardiovascular risk starts to quietly climb. This week, Dr. Komal sits down with Dr. Harpreet Tsui, an internist, obesity medicine specialist, and founder of Coronado Health (a direct primary care practice in Nevada), to break down the 2026 ACC/AHA Dyslipidemia Guidelines — the biggest update to cholesterol guidelines in years.

This is a personal episode. Both physicians are Southeast Asian women with significant family histories of heart disease. Both are managing their own cardiometabolic health in real time. And neither of them is willing to accept "your numbers look fine" as the end of the conversation.

They cover what's changed in the guidelines, which genetic cholesterol markers your doctor may not be ordering, why perimenopause can flip your lipid panel overnight, and the exact language to use at your next appointment to get the full picture.

Heart disease has long been framed as a “man’s disease” – but women are being missed, misdiagnosed, and overlooked in ways that can be life-threatening, especially within South Asian communities where cardiovascular risk often develops earlier and more aggressively.

In this episode, Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia sits down with advanced imaging and preventative cardiologist, Dr. Ambreen Mohamed, to unpack the evolving science of women’s cardiovascular health, the hormonal shifts that impact risk throughout midlife, and why prevention needs to start far earlier than most people realize.

Together, they explore the subtle symptoms women experience that are too often dismissed, the intersection of menopause, PCOS, pregnancy complications, insulin resistance, and heart disease, and why traditional risk calculators frequently fail to capture the realities of South Asian patients. Most importantly, this conversation reframes prevention not as fear-based medicine, but as empowerment: understanding your risk factors early enough to change the trajectory of your health before disease develops.

Between trackers, lab tests, supplements, hormone experts, social media, and podcasts, women have more access to health information than ever before. However, despite (and sometimes because) of these resources, many women end up feeling confused and distrustful of their own bodies. 

In this episode, Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia explores various factors contributing to the ambiguity, including long-standing systemic gaps in women’s healthcare. From “normal” lab results that don’t align with very real symptoms to a healthcare system built around specialties instead of whole-body care, women have been conditioned to push through pain and discomfort in order to adjust to everyone’s convenience but their own.

If you’ve struggled to find clear, conclusive answers about your health, this episode highlights why self-advocacy is essential in securing the individual care and comprehensive treatment you deserve.

Have you ever felt confused about your body – like you’re not getting clear answers about your hormones, your cycle, or your symptoms? Maybe you’ve been told everything looks “normal,” even when you don’t feel normal. Or you’ve found yourself piecing together information from different sources, trying to make sense of what’s actually going on.

There’s a reason for that. Women’s health has historically been under researched, undervalued, and under resourced. For decades, gaps in research and education have left both patients and providers without the tools needed to fully understand and address women’s health concerns.

The result? Confusion, misdiagnosis, and far too many women feeling dismissed or unheard. The good news is, this conversation is starting to change. With better awareness, more open dialogue, and a focus on asking the right questions, we can begin to close those gaps.

In this post, we’ll explore why Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia rebranded her podcast from Reset Recharge to Clearly Hormonal, the deeper issues within women’s healthcare that inspired this shift, and how her new mission is centered on cutting through the noise to bring women the clarity and knowledge they deserve.

Have you ever felt confused about your body – like you’re not getting clear answers about your hormones, your cycle, or your symptoms? Maybe you’ve been told everything looks “normal,” even when you don’t feel normal. Or you’ve found yourself piecing together information from different sources, trying to make sense of what’s actually going on.

There’s a reason for that. Women’s health has historically been under researched, undervalued, and under resourced. For decades, gaps in research and education have left both patients and providers without the tools needed to fully understand and address women’s health concerns.

The result? Confusion, misdiagnosis, and far too many women feeling dismissed or unheard. The good news is, this conversation is starting to change. With better awareness, more open dialogue, and a focus on asking the right questions, we can begin to close those gaps.

In this post, we’ll explore why Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia rebranded her podcast from Reset Recharge to Clearly Hormonal, the deeper issues within women’s healthcare that inspired this shift, and how her new mission is centered on cutting through the noise to bring women the clarity and knowledge they deserve.

Women’s reproductive health doesn’t happen in silos. Pregnancy, postpartum recovery, fertility struggles, and perimenopause are deeply connected—biologically, emotionally, and metabolically. In this powerful episode of Reset Recharge, Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia sits down with Dr. Emmie Strassberg, a maternal-fetal medicine (MFM) specialist, to unpack what women truly need to know as they move from pregnancy planning through perimenopause, especially after pregnancy loss or complications.

This conversation is essential listening—and reading—for women in their 30s and 40s who feel confused, dismissed, or isolated in their reproductive health journey.

In this episode of 'Reset Recharge,' host Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia, a triple board certified endocrinologist, interviews Dr. Jessica Yearwood, a Menopause Society certified practitioner, about the deep impacts of perimenopause and menopause on women's health. The conversation covers a range of topics including cardiovascular health, urinary tract infections, osteoporosis, vasomotor symptoms, and abnormal bleeding.

Dr. Yearwood shares her insights and experiences as an emergency medical physician and provides valuable advice on managing these conditions. The episode emphasizes the importance of self-advocacy and informed discussions with healthcare providers, aiming to empower women to take control of their health during the menopause transition. Dr. Yearwood also introduces her new menopause clinic in Gig Harbor, Washington, which offers consultative and direct care for women.

In this episode of Reset Recharge, host Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia discusses her personal experiences and insights into managing medical crises for loved ones while emphasizing the importance of self-care. She shares practical strategies for organizing care and maintaining emotional and physical well-being during stressful times, particularly for midlife women caught in the 'sandwich era'—balancing responsibilities between children and aging parents. This episode highlights the importance of delegation, setting boundaries, emotional rest, and modeling self-care for future generations.

In this episode of 'Reset Recharge,' host Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia, a triple board-certified endocrinologist and women's health expert, discusses the transformative journey of women's lives through various stages like puberty, reproductive years, and menopause. Revisiting the perspectives from a previous episode titled 'Mother Nature is Not a Feminist,' she now emphasizes resilience, adaptability, and the unique strengths women accumulate over time.

The episode explores the positive cultural attitudes toward aging women in different societies, challenges the modern pace of life that contradicts natural biological processes, and promotes rest as a form of strategic health maintenance rather than laziness. Dr. Patil-Sisodia advocates for a cultural shift to honor the full arc of women's lives, recognizing midlife changes as moments for intentional self-care rather than decline.